A multi-stage process for making rubber coated cleaning cloths is described in German Patent DE-B 1 560 783, the text of which is incorporated herein by reference. That process involves multiple impregnations of a randomly laid nonwoven fabric (non-oriented web), preferably of hydrophilic natural fibers, with a foamy aqueous binder dispersion of vulcanizable rubber; drying the impregnated cloth; coating the surfaces of the dried cloth with a coagulable foamed rubber dispersion (rubber outer coating); drying and vulcanizing the coated fabric; washing a pore-forming material contained in the coating out; and drying the washed fabric.
Conventional rubber outer coatings for such cleaning cloths are not very biodegradable or suitable for composting. Moreover, the surfaces of such cleaning cloths tend to be very sticky and demonstrate a perceptibly high wiping resistance. This quality, which is typical of rubber, can be mitigated by sprinkling talcum powder on the surfaces. However, after a cleaning cloth has been washed out, typically after the first use, the talcum powder usually almost entirely removed and the stickiness returns. Such stickiness can be so extreme that cloths that have been folded together when wet may bond themselves together so strongly after drying that the coating will be damaged when such bonded surfaces are forcibly separated.
The water absorption capacity of such cloths is largely determined by the number and size of pores present in the cured outer coating and by the fibers comprising the cloth material situated between the coatings that extend into the pores. These factors also influence such a cloth's printability and receptivity to printing colors.